In 1993 the Centre was founded as “Caffè Culturale”. In 2004 the name was changed to “Piccola Università Italiana” it has been recognized with presa d’atto prot 23860/P from 30.11.04 by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research. The Centre is located in the heart of Tropea in a beautiful house typical of the area. Lessons are held in classrooms or else out on the terrace.
	In order to ensure the maximum space for practising speaking the language, groups are composed of no more than 6 students for each level. On day one of the course the participants who already have a knowledge of the language will undergo a written and oral exam in order for them to be assigned to the most appropriate level for their knowledge. There will be 5 levels. If, after having done the test, there won’t be a class (3-6 students) for a student with his own level he/she will do the Two-to-One Course or Individual lessons. In this case the number of lessons will be reduced by half. The course, in fact is aimed to satisfy the individual needs of the student placing him only in his own level.
	We update our teaching material through ongoing discussion with the teachers. Moreover, current material is used during the lessons, such as newspaper articles, literary texts, songs, videos, slides, etc.
	The teaching is delivered using the direct method. That is, exclusively in Italian. This makes it possible to practise oral comprehension and to develop the students' linguistic sensibility. The lessons are designed with two hours of grammar and related exercises per day. We teach you the structure of the Italian language in order for you to learn to write and speak correctly. The remaining lessons will be devoted to aspects of communication - with the aim of giving you confidence in using the Italian language as soon as possible. Furthermore, we provide you with a basic cultural overview of the Country which is so important for learning and understanding the Italian language. We take you through the various contradictory aspects of Italy, its past and multifaceted present. To support the teaching programme, we also show you interesting classic Italian films, using state of the art video equipment and our large screen in the “sala mediale”. This area has just been reorganised and contains, for your use, a huge selection of teaching cassettes and an extensive library. A computer with Internet access is also made available to our students in this area (on payment).
	"Our two weeks in Tropea were exactly what a language holiday should be. As a holiday destination, Tropea offers everything we expected of Italy: an authentic Italian lifestyle in an historic seaside town, great food and excellent hospitality. Moreover, we were lodged in a modern apartment equipped with everything one might need. But even more important was the friendly atmosphere of Piccola Università Italiana. The conversation exercises during lessons often developed into an exchange of personal ideas which then, during our free time, we were able to follow up in a relaxed manner with the teacher. We were impressed by the way in which the process of language learning moved seamlessly from formal classroom time to free time. Tropea was a great success and not just for our Italian. We have already booked another course with Piccola Università Italiana.” Annegret Riedmaier Matthias Haemisch top of this page
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